Tag Archives: US

by Graham E. Fuller — Barely more than a few weeks after the failed coup in Turkey, President Erdogan surprised the world by turning up for a meeting in Saint Petersburg with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Many observers in the West view the event darkly, as a sign that perhaps …

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned US presidential candidates not to mess with the nuclear deal, officially the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or he would “set fire to it.” “We don’t violate JCPOA, but if [the] other side violates it, as US presidential candidates are threatening to tear …

The Levant News — Iranian Foreign Mohammad Javad Zarif reiterated his country’s plan for a national unity government in Syria during the Oslo Forum in Norway. Zarif said, “The solution [in Syria] is political and cannot be achieved through military means.” In addition to the unity government that could allow …

The Levant News — The emergence of an online video of two US soldiers joking near a Qatari flag is causing tensions between Qatar and the United States. US Ambassador Dana Shell Smith, summoned over the incident, apologized to the Qatari Foreign Ministry and on Twitter to the people of …

The Levant News — US scholar A. Trevor Thrall looks at the foreign-policy nightmare that the country, and the world, could face should Hillary Clinton win her presidential bid. A new Clinton administration may drag the country into a foreign-policy nightmare, warns A. Trevor Thrall, Associate Professor of Government and …

By​ George Friedman for Stratfor — There is widespread interest in the rising tensions over the waters east of China. China has become increasingly assertive in the region, and regional powers from Japan to Singapore have become alarmed at China’s behavior. The Chinese recently built an island in the South …

By Bill Schneider for Reuters — Thanks to Donald Trump, Americans now know what a populist foreign policy looks like: “Not isolationist, but America First.” That’s how the Republican presidential front-runner defined his views to an interviewer last week. “I like the expression,” Trump said, implying that he had never …

By Ibrahim Hamidi for al-Hayat –US Secretary of State marks August as the date for a new constitution following his meeting with the Russian president, accelerating the political battle between the Syrian sides Kerry Launches The Syrian political battle is now centered on the constitution, which is one of the …

The Republican frontrunner continues to up his anti-immigration rhetoric and is now claiming there are also ‘problems’ with Muslims coming into the US By Heather Saul for The Independent — Donald Trump has reacted to the devastating attacks in Brussels by claiming the West is “having problems with Muslims” and …

By Kamran Bokhari for Stratfor — Since Putin announced Russia’s withdrawal, diplomats and media have been unreasonably hopeful about the future of the Syrian civil war. Russia’s military drawdown from Syria soon after the ceasefire has created a strange sense of optimism in the media regarding peace talks. Any substantive …

THE LEVANT NEWS – By Graham E. Fuller* — The FBI and Apple are wrestling over the rights of police access to private phones. Well and good. But there is a much more urgent issue: why are our intelligence and security organizations being hindered from taking national security to a …

The Levant News — By Graham E. Fuller — It does not take much imagination to see where refugees are taking the world over the longer run. This issue currently lies at the heart of some very ugly American politics. It is also tearing apart one of the noblest political …

THE LEVANT NEWS: Russia said U.N.-led talks planned for Saturday between major international players on establishing a ceasefire in Syria had been postponed, as wrangling dragged on between the various sides. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Russian news agencies that the meeting in Geneva had been put back to …

THE LEVANT NEWS — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry spoke to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday and the two “recommitted” themselves to continued deliveries of aid to those affected by the war in Syria, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said. They also discussed the progress negotiators …

By Elijah J. Magnier for Global Research — There are three possible scenarios in Syria Participation of [Saudi] Arab troops in Syria is not excluded. A high-ranking officer within the joint operations room in Damascus, which includes Russia, Iran and Syria and Hezbollah said, “ there are three possible scenarios in Syria: …

By Jeffrey Sachs* — In the Milwaukee debate, Hillary Clinton took pride in her role in a recent UN Security Council resolution on a Syrian ceasefire: But I would add this. You know, the Security Council finally got around to adopting a resolution. At the core of that resolution is an …

THE LEVANT NEWS — by Boaz Bulbulovitz — Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has penned a controversial letter to a major Jewish donor vowing to offer Israel “total” support in its next confrontation with the Gaza Strip’s Islamist rulers. The leaked letter, sent last week to Israeli-American media mogul Haim Saban, promises to …

THE LEVANT NEWS — BRUSSELS: Saudi Arabia has decided to increase its military contributions to the campaign against ISIS, including offering to expand its role in the air campaign, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s spokesman said on Thursday after bilateral talks. Carter met Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who …

MUNICH/BEIRUT | BY JOHN IRISH AND SULEIMAN AL-KHALIDI for Reuters — Major powers were beginning a new round of Syria peace talks on Thursday focusing on calls for a ceasefire and access for humanitarian aid. But with the Syrian opposition saying it cannot accept a truce in the current climate …

THE LEVANT NEWS — The United States and its allies conducted 18 airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq and six in Syria on Wednesday, coalition leading the operations said in a statement. The airstrikes in Iraq were concentrated around the northern city of Mosul, where nine strikes destroyed 24 ISIS fighting …

THE LEVANT NEWS — A U.N.-backed roadmap to end the Syrian war was met with skepticism Saturday by members of the country’s fractured opposition who insist President Bashar Assad must go to achieve peace. The U.S. and Russian initiative, unanimously approved by the U.N. Security Council on Friday, foresees talks …

IS THE ANSWER TO THE CONFLICT IN SYRIA SENDING IN AMERICAN SOLDIERS TO FIGHT? OR SHOULD THE FOCUS BE ON CONFRONTING THE FORCES DRIVING THE CONFLICT THERE THE LEVANT NEWS — BY GHASSAN MICHEL RUBEIZ — US foreign policy for Syria needs to change. Washington must address Saudi-Iranian relations squarely, …

THE LEVANT NEWS — by Sharon Bernstein for REUTERS– They share a small two-bedroom apartment in Sacramento with few possessions, but for Syrian refugee Mohammad Abd Rabboh, his wife and two daughters, there is finally freedom from fear. Just six weeks after arriving in the United States, the girls are …

THE LEVANT NEWS –The Syrian president Bashar Assad on Tuesday received a letter from U.S. Senator for the State of Virginia Richard Black a letter in which he said “I was pleased by the Russians’ intervention against the armies invading Syria. With their support, the Syrian Army has made dramatic …

THE LEVANT NEWS — by Graham E. Fuller– ISIS, with its horrific attack on purely civilian targets in Paris, has established new realities about its nature, capabilities and intentions. The need for its elimination can now no longer be in doubt. It is not that Parisian lives are more important …

THE LEVANT NEWS — Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday after industry data showed an increase in U.S. stockpiles, and as analysts said that U.S. output had been surprisingly resilient in the face of lower prices. Benchmark U.S. crude futures CLc1 slipped to a two-week low at $43.55 a barrel …

The Levant News — by Graham E. Fuller — As mayhem and anarchy spread like a contagion across the Middle East, can the Middle East, like Humpty Dumpty, be put back together again? Some pundits say no. Yet, for a variety of admittedly highly debatable reasons, I still believe that …

The Levant News — Various Islamist militant groups are hiding behind different names, but they are all fulfilling the same functions as ISIL, and Washington is set to arm the ‘Syrian opposition’ without being able to tell one group from another, the founder and editor of International NSNBC news portal Dr. …

The Levant News– Officials at Yemen’s Red Sea port of Hodeidah said the first ship to dock there in three weeks arrived on Tuesday, carrying desperately needed fuel, as Saudi Arabia denied it was obstructing aid supplies heading for Yemen by sea. Yemen is suffering what the United Nations has designated …

The Levant News –Washington – By Barbara Starr, CNN Pentagon Correspondent –The U.S. intelligence community now thinks Russia may have embarked on its military buildup in Syria because Moscow believes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may not be able to hang onto power and it wants to position itself to back …

THE LEVANT NEWS — Stratfor Analysis –Phone calls between relatively low-level diplomats are normally not newsworthy. But Monday’s conversation between U.S. Undersecretary of State Victoria Nuland and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin on the simmering conflict in Ukraine is an exception. The bilateral nature of the conversation and its …

THE LEVANT NEWS –- As a businessman and financier, I share the exhilaration of millions of Iranians at the nuclear deal struck between Tehran and the world’s big powers last week. Ours is a country that has always wanted to do business with the rest of the world; now we …

by Ali Hashem for Al-Monitor — Beirut Center for Middle East Studies– As journalists were preparing July 9 for the possible good news that a nuclear deal had been reached, three foreign ministers turned the situation upside down. “The last 100 meters of the marathon are the hardest,” said French …

Tensions ran high in eastern Iraq on Friday between Kurdish and Shi’ite fighters, highlighting divisions hampering efforts by the U.S.-backed government to blunt the momentum of Islamic State militants. There were conflicting reports on what transpired in Diyala province after Kurdish peshmerga fighters attempted to dig a trench to separate …

Iran expressed concern on 12 June over cyber-security of nuclear talks with six world powers after reported cyber-attacks on venues linked to the negotiations on its disputed nuclear program, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Russian computer security company Kaspersky Lab said on Wednesday that a computer virus was used to …

Six Yemenis held for more than a decade at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo have been flown to Oman for resettlement, the Pentagon said on 12 June, the latest step in President Barack Obama’s slow push to close the facility. The release came a week after Defense Secretary Ash …

President Barack Obama has said American forces being sent to a new operations center in the heart of the war against Islamic State will not engage in combat, but they will do almost everything but fight to support the beleaguered Iraqi forces. U.S. defense officials say the tasks of the …

WASHINGTON: U.S. and coalition forces conducted 13 airstrikes targeting ISIS in Iraq on 11 June, as well as 10 strikes against the militant group in Syria, the U.S. military said. The attacks were intended to diminish the support systems for ISIS, hurting its “morale and ability to sustain the fight …

VIENNA: Russia’s negotiator said Friday there has been a “very worrying” slowdown in progress in nuclear talks between Iran and six major powers ahead of a June 30 deadline to finalize a historic accord. “The rate of progress … is progressively slowing down,” Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying by …

VIENNA: Iran’s envoy to the U.N. nuclear agency declined Thursday to commit to transparency measures that were part of a preliminary deal Tehran and world powers reached in April, deflecting U.S. demands to implement such provisions. The United States urged Iran to implement the so-called Additional Protocol, which allows more …

President Barack Obama’s administration is planning to train Sunni tribes’ fighters as part of its move to send up to 450 additional U.S. forces to Iraq, the White House said on 10 June. The United States is also sending weapons to Sunni tribes, as well as the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters, …

SANAA: Witnesses and officials in Yemen say a Saudi-led airstrike hit a public bus on a highway north of the southern city of Aden, splitting the vehicle in half and killing at least 20 civilian passengers. They said Thursday that airstrikes also hit a family traveling in a private car …

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the West on Thursday of bombing Arabs and Turkmens in Syria while supporting Kurdish “terrorist” groups he said were filling the void left behind. Foreign Ministry spokesman Tanju Bilgic said more than 13,000 people had entered Turkey in the past week from Syria where moderate …

By: Kourosh Ziabari — Iran Review’s Interview — Iran and the group of six world powers have about one month to make history and reach a comprehensive agreement to end the standoff over Iran’s nuclear program. Officials in Tehran have already indicated that they would be open to the possibility …